Ichigo Kurosaki knelt, he was wearing the usual garb of a soul reaper, black kimono and hakuma pants. His brown eyes were focused on the little girl before him. The broken life chain told him that Sayo Aisaka was no longer among the living.
"Listen kid, you had better move on. If you stick around here you'll just be a target for Hallows. I think you'll like Soul Society, it's actually a pretty nice place." He said reassuringly.
Sayo bit her lip nervously. She had been a fixture at Fukenawa Academy for 65 years, it was her home.
"Well… I- I don't know… the Academy is my home. I couldn't imagine leaving it. And Professor Negi has been so kind to me…" Sayo mumbled.
Ichigo was on the point of trying to persuade her again when he suddenly straighten up and looked off into the distance. At the same time there was a clap of thunder and Rukia's soul phone rang at the same time. Rukia, who had been leaning against a wall checked the phone and then looked up in panic.
"Ichigo!" she cried.
It was un-necessary to point out what was wrong. Both Ichigo and Sayo were staring off in the same direction to where a huge door way in the shape of a hanya mask was now spewing forth light. Rukia ran over to where the other two were standing and stared in disbelief at the doors.
"The Demon Gate…" Rukia breathed in disbelief.
"What the hell is that?" Ichigo asked her.
"The Demon Gate is a portal between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It is a way for demons and spirits to enter the world of the living but it hasn't been seen in 1200 years. This is VERY bad."
Ichigo turned to Sayo and quickly knelt down.
"Things are going to get very bad around here very soon, so you need to move on now. I'm sorry to rush you, but I have things I need to do so I'm gonna need an answer right now." He said hurriedly.
Sayo eyes flicked from Ichigo's face to the doorway and then back again and then nodded slightly, her eyes wide in fear. Ichigo managed half a smile and then tapped her on the head with the hilt of his sword. Both he and Rukia were running towards the demon gate before the light from Sayo's ascendance had dissipated.
Rukia looked over to Ichigo as they ran.
"Listen, we can't just rush into this. The first thing we will need to do is to close the gate, then we have to figure out how to get whatever came out back inside. I'm going to get Kisuke, if anyone has some answers he will. Try to contain the situation but please be careful, this isn't going to be like anything you've faced before." Rukia instructed
Ichigo nodded then drew Zangetsu from his back, the large sword unraveling the white cloth that bound it as he went.